Vehicle bed covers are commonly used to cover cargo areas that are substantially exposed. Such covers are meant to protect cargo in the vehicle bed from the elements. Vehicle bed covers are also often used to provide a measure of security against theft of cargo stored in the vehicle bed. Prior art vehicle bed covers have typically been made of canvas, plastic, or similar materials, and are attached to the vehicle bed by snaps, hooks, ropes or the like.
Though they typically provide reasonable protection from the elements, prior vehicle bed covers provide little security, are difficult to attach and remove, and are difficult to store when not in use. Some vehicle bed covers, especially those which attempt to enhance the security of the vehicle bed, also hinder the operator's access to any cargo stored in the vehicle bed. In order to retrieve such cargo, the operator must remove the cover which is often a laborious and time consuming process.
A number of vehicle bed covers have been proposed in the past. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,252,362 (Campbell) teaches manually operating a reel to feed a truck body cover along tracks. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,251,950 (Bernardo), a pickup cover is formed by slats as opposite sides of the cover slide in guide tracks. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,786,099 (Mount) as well as U.S. Pat. No. 4,795,206 (Adams), a motor is further employed to position a truck bed cover. These patents, however, have various complications and disadvantages, such as difficulty in assembling and disassembling the devices, the space taken up by storage of the devices when not in use, and the limited durability of the devices, and therefore have restricted usage.
Other structures have attempted to provide additional access to the vehicle bed. For example U.S. Pat. No. 4,861,096 (Hastings), discloses a vertically hinged passenger door in the side panel of a vehicle, and a port for filling the fuel tank which is accessible by opening the hinged door. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,733,898 (Williams), as well as in U.S. Pat. No. 5,267,773 (Kalis, Jr. et al.), hinged doors provide access to individual compartments formed within a truck bed. These patents, however, have various complications and disadvantages, such as a lack of structural stability, and difficulty of use.
It would be desirable to provide a vehicle bed with means for temporarily covering or enclosing a portion or all of the cargo located within the vehicle bed. Additionally it would be desirable to make the enclosed area of the vehicle bed easily accessible to the operator while maintaining the enhanced security which covering the vehicle bed provides. Further it would be desirable to make a portion of the vehicle bed dustproof as well as waterproof.